17. Regent
REGENT
My magic buzzes on a tight rope, my cock uncomfortably stiff as I walk into the snow-blanketed evening.
Beautiful. She was stunning as she broke apart on my fingers.
Watching her light up, plead, beg, and demand more from me aroused my inner beast to life that, for the most part, has been dormant for years.
I fist my hands, my stomach knotting as I come to a stop and drop to my knees in the snow, trying to shove away the image that’s burned into my mind.
What the fuck am I doing?
What am I doing with her?
How did I lose control?
I hate greers. I told her that from the start, and it remains the truth now.
But the moment I felt her go under the water for longer than I was comfortable with, I was upon her, ensuring she was okay.
Then her red hair tempted me. Tiny nudges of my desire reaching out simply to touch her, my cock straining with the need for more.
To bed her.
To claim her.
The light tapping begins on my right shoulder first. It’s one of the two spirit pixies. Its twin now perches on my left. One is all black and the other all white, with sharp-edged wings. They haven’t shown themselves to Esther, most likely because they’re most sensitive to chaotic magic.
The one that looks as white as snow hovers around my arm and main injury, asking for permission to continue with its healing. It’s easier in water, but I can’t stand being back in that bathhouse with her. Not when temptation is turning into my damnation.
“Thank you, little one,” I say as I come to stand and walk. She hovers around my arm, and as I move along, her brother, with equal permission, flutters around my abdomen.
Their magic tugs back and forth, feeding off the poison much faster than I can on my own. I grow lightheaded as the poison is forcibly extracted from me, but I cling to the pain, hoping that it will help deter my cock, which right now wants to be buried deep inside Esther.
There’s something different about this greer.
As I trudge through the snow and look into the barn where Reene eats a lavish amount of apples brought by the earth pixies, I can’t help but find it foreboding that we end up here yet again.
I go to my companion and rest my hand on her forehead, thinking of our time and journey so far.
I think of the mother who gave her to me as a gift, and equally, my inability to set her free.
She nudges into me, and I use her momentarily for support as the poison is being threaded through my veins like jagged edges. It’s certainly not the worst pain I’ve gone through, more a nuisance than anything.
I grab one of the apples from the woven basket and offer it to her.
“Thank you for finding us a place of sanctuary last night,” I say.
Although we got out of there because of Esther, it was Reene who brought us back to the foot of the mountain, the safest place she knows. But even now, this place is not safe.
No, I’m certain wherever I take this foreign greer, trouble will follow.
I pat her one more time and then walk back through empty, narrow lanes. It hasn’t changed much since the last time we were here. I come to stop at the center of the township, where the statue of Neina and Kahali, the demigod beast, stands. He sits beside her, and she rests her hand on his head.
The beast has a large catlike frame, larger than a horse and even a fully grown stormbear.
It has three vine-like tails with intricate jagged markings on what was known to be white fur.
Though the details of its face are missing from where the beast’s head has been smashed.
Only minor rocky details remain, and half of its teeth still displayed as claws curl into the ground.
A freshly woven wreath rests atop Neina’s head, and three smaller ones on each of Kahali’s tails.
I feel Neina’s presence here, as if she’s always watching, which unsettles me. She is the god they pray to to bring enlightenment, and life.
Such bullshit. If only everyone knew the gods only care for themselves and their own games to seize power. But it would appear over time, more sanctuaries and demigods are being trapped or forgotten. Good. Less pawns for the gods to play with.
A dark dread sinks into my stomach, and my head whips in the direction of the bathhouse. I’m running before I hear a beast’s shrill scream.
I explode into the bathhouse, the pixies quickly fluttering out and screaming. Four large beasts crawl over the walls, their eight hairy legs punching holes in the walls and knocking everything over. One is already dead, not even having made it over the threshold of the courtyard.
Esther glides on her back, sliding through the water that’s spilled onto the ground and using it for momentum, the small blade of her childhood companion cutting open the beast’s belly, spilling its insides onto the floor.
Its shrill screams bounces off the walls.
I’ve been careless, something that’s happened more than once these past few days.
The female fire pixie hides in the corner of the room, throwing small fireballs at the multiple red eyes on the heads of the beasts, barely making a dent.
Esther stands, her chest rising and falling as she rolls over and dodges one of their sharp pinprick feet. My jaw grinds, wistfully aware of the dark beasts that shouldn’t be here, most likely drawn to her.
I pull from the now half-wilted trees, controlling the petals that fall. “Stand back,” I tell her, more out of consideration than anything. The petals fly toward the remaining two and act as shrapnel.
Esther is hit with an explosion of green blood. Her mouth opens, shocked by the grotesque sight. Silence falls over the room as she wipes over her eyes.
“That’s fucking disgusting!”
“I did tell you to stand back.”
“What the fuck? You said this place is safe.”
“No, I told you monsters can still come in, but rarely do. However, it doesn’t help that you shattered the main fucking barrier.”
Her accusatory finger points at me, and she goes to open her mouth, but it snaps shut again. “I can’t fucking believe this. It’s literally one thing after another with you.”
“Because of me? I don’t know how to tell you this, little greer, but you’re drawing a lot of trouble our way.”
“Then just fucking let me go!”
“No!” I roar, the room shaking from its force. She seems taken aback, and I’m ashamed of showing such powerful aggression toward her. I don’t know what it is about Esther that makes me so… unnerved.
She shakes her head and walks past me, shoving at my shoulder. “Looks like I’m not the only one who’s not in control.”
I reach for her but quickly rethink it. Grimace scampers along the wall, catching onto the back of her hooded coat.
He looks back at me, and I swear the little fucker flips me off.
Then the little fire pixie flutters around my face, looking most unimpressed as she crosses her arms and flies after them.
The others return, disgruntled by their oasis being so quickly disheveled.
I want to give chase, and it makes no fucking sense to do so.
This time, I do keep my magic curious around hers.
It’s strange, though, the way it’s dim when she’s not using it, barely a whisper, but when active, it’s larger than life.
I can always surmise how powerful a greer is, but with her magic, it has no rhyme or reason.
I could leave this room as is, let it be another broken ruin to a sanctuary long forgotten.
But then I’m reminded by the spirit pixies, who resume work on my arm and abdomen again, that this is also a house to those who maintain it.
This is a place that—although I despise it—offers safety for others. Well, usually.
I have a sense that whatever happens going forward will be even worse.
I curse the Fates who whispered the night of Esther’s arrival, that will most certainly become my undoing if I don’t pull myself together and focus on my objective. The artifact at the Volmere auctions.
A short time later, after helping the elemental pixies clean the bathhouse, I track Esther’s dim magic into the horse stable.
Reene tolerates Esther sitting behind her.
Esther’s back is to the wooden wall, arms crossed over her chest, and Grimace sleeping in her lap.
The little fire pixie hovers in front of them, her wings flaring with an immaculate heat to keep them warm.
I can sense that Esther isn’t sleeping, but I still approach them.
This string-like attachment between us is growing harder to resist. But despite that, I’m irritated by my earlier outburst. The pixie with long hair shakes her head at me, tsking when I come to a stop.
It’s not often I’m reprimanded by beasts, which makes it all the worse.
So, I decide to remain close to the door, my back to the wall as I cross my ankles and arms over one another. I close my eyes, with no intention of sleeping. There are rooms and beds here, but there’s no point in making my way toward them if Esther’s chosen to remain here.